Zhou Yan was anxious. Ye Piaoling, hesitant. Li Jiancheng had turned dark and brooding. Shui Rutian distanced himself from this seeming powder keg of a situation. The only one standing confidently was Jiang Chen. It was as if the bet was just a small game to him, a passing fancy. Ye Piaoling looked at Jiang Chen, his eyes filled with a sliver of concentrated dread. Finally, he inhaled deeply and shook his head. “Zhou Yan is right. Contests born out of personal feelings are meaningless. Ultimately, we are all scions of Veluriyam Capital. We should bare our steel against outsiders, not each other.”

Though the statement was a veiled admission of defeat, he had still managed to recover a portion of face. On the other hand, Jiang Chen was a little surprised. He’d thought his provocation enough to spur the other youth into the bet. Was Ye Piaoling just giving up? His opinion of Vastsea’s young lord imperceptibly rose a notch. Though his trouble-stirring attempt failed, Li Jiancheng was still entirely unaffected. He wasn’t the least bit self-conscious about his villainy, much...